Aleister Crowley: "Tarot of Thoth". "The Book of Thoth" by A. Crowley

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Aleister Crowley is the most famous cabalist, occultist and tarot reader in England. Strictly speaking, Crowley himself is not the creator of the Thoth Tarot deck, he only resurrected the lost wisdom. There are many different versions of the origin of this deck. The most popular is connected with Ancient Egypt. According to her, in the "Tarot of Thoth" symbols are encrypted, which contain the sacred knowledge of the priests of the god Thoth. Crowley was also a supporter of this theory. He was engaged in deciphering and restoring ancient images, which were eventually described in the book "Tarot of Thoth".

History

Had his own reasons for Crowley's mystical research. Tarot, in the understanding of the mystic, was the bearer of sacred knowledge. Therefore, when Crowley became convinced that at the beginning of the 20th century the time of the god Osiris would end and the era of the god Horus would begin, he realized that the change of cycles would affect the magical and spiritual spheres of human life. And such changes will lead to the need to make corrections and changes in the system of Tarot cards, symbolically reflecting all areas of the surrounding reality.

Initiallythe occultist didn't want to change the whole deck. He was only going to fix the most significant values. However, Frieda Harris, his assistant and artist, insisted that the deck be completely redesigned. As a result, the changes affected both the visual range and the semantic sequence.

Work on the new deck began in 1938 and lasted 5 long years, although Crowley originally intended to make all the necessary changes in 3 months.

The book "Tarot of Thoth" (Crowley)

The Book of Thoth is Crowley's most famous work, in which the occultist presented a complete description and interpretation of the Thoth deck. This book can be considered both as a textbook on Tarot cards in general, and as a guide to the worldview of its author and occult philosophy.

The Kabbalistic interpretation of the Tarot deck, various divination systems, quotes from the Book of the Law and many other occult texts included Crowley's work. Tarot is in the "Book of Thoth" a way of understanding the world and comprehending ancient wisdom.

The author himself called the deck he created not only "an encyclopedia of occult philosophy", but also "a reference book that covers the directions of magical and mystical thought for the next 2 millennia."

Distinguishing Features

Crowley was a passionate syncretist by nature. Tarot became a reflection of his search. The occultist traveled the world in search of secret knowledge, studied the mystical, occult and magical traditions of various nations and societies, including traditional religious communities and secret brotherhoods,where only the initiates were admitted. The result of this was the synthesis of everything known into a complex teaching, which was called "thelema".

This mixture of religions and magical mysteries was reflected in his Tarot deck, which was the result of the research of the occultist's entire life - after finishing work on the cards, he lived only 3 years. Therefore, the correct interpretation of Crowley's Tarot is very difficult without studying the philosophical views of the mystic.

Among the first distinguishing feature of the Thoth deck is the design - no one has used this style for the design of the Tarot before. For this, you can thank the artist-Egyptologist F. Harris.

The next difference is more significant and is related to the conceptual side. The fact is that the interpretation of the symbols of Tarot Thoth is very different from the interpretation of traditional decks. This is due to the fact that Crowley combined the symbols of many occult schools and cultures, and also supplemented the pictures with his own worldview.

Symbolism and Meaning of Crowley's Tarot

To effectively use Crowley's Tarot deck for divination, you need to master its symbolism. If free and associative interpretations are allowed in traditional cards, then in the case of the Tarot of Thoth, it is necessary to clearly follow the semantic definition given by Crowley himself. Another noteworthy point is that all cards from the Thoth deck are interpreted exclusively in the upright position. Crowley's system simply does not have separate meanings for interpreting reversed cards.

In addition, the mystic refused in his Tarot fromuse of the lasso "Last Judgment", which was replaced by "Aeon", invented by the author. Changed Crowley and some names. So, the arcana "Moderation" and "Strength" turned into "Regulation" and "Lust".

So Crowley created his own divination system, the key to which is found in the Book of Thoth.

Major Arcana

The cards of "Tarot of Thoth" by Aleister Crowley, like the traditional ones, are divided into two arcana - senior and junior. The older ones include 22 cards that are meaningful, unlike the younger ones. These are the ones that have been affected the most. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to consider and describe them in detail.

Arcana 0 to 5

Zero card, or "Fool" (Fool, Madman, Jester). Traditionally, the card is placed between the 20th and 21st arcana, but Crowley placed it at the beginning of the row, suggesting that the major arcana begin from scratch. "Fool" refers to the air element, Uranus acts as a patron planet. Means ideas, novelty, spirituality, the border between old and new.

"Magician", 1 lasso - refers to Mercury. Denotes strength, wisdom, skills and abilities, opportunities, spiritual potential, vigor, creativity, sociability, thought processes.

"High Priestess", 2 lasso - associated with the Moon. Denotes feelings, intuition, instincts, inner focus, introversion.

"Empress", 3 lasso - correlates with Venus. Responsible for sex, love, beauty, pleasure and fertility.

"Emperor", 4 lasso - associated withzodiac sign Aries. Symbolizes dominance, leadership, devotion and idealism; struggle, dominance, ambition, anger, ex altation, bigotry, stubbornness.

"Hierophant", 5 lasso - corresponds with the sign of Taurus. It is the material embodiment of spiritual principles. It symbolizes perseverance, work, willpower, structuredness, organization.

Arcana 6 to 10

We continue to describe Crowley's Tarot cards.

"Lovers", 6 lasso - associated with the sign of Gemini. This card is one of the most difficult to interpret in the Thoth Tarot. Nevertheless, its general meanings are as follows: interaction, communication, choice, inconsistency.

"Chariot", 7 lasso - is under the influence of Cancer. Symbolizes strength, inner search, victory, overcoming obstacles, introspection.

"Regulation", 8 lasso - he is patronized by the constellation Libra. Denotes justice, balance, balance and harmony.

"The Hermit", 9 lasso - associated with Virgo. It symbolizes wisdom, the search for knowledge, meaningfulness, depth of knowledge, self-sufficiency, systematization.

"Wheel of fate", 10 lasso - patronizes Jupiter. It embodies the fateful turns in life and socially significant phenomena: religion, politics, ideology. Interpreted as good luck and happiness.

Arcana 11 to 15

Aleister Crowley paid great attention to the patron planet or zodiac sign associated with the lasso. In their relationship lies a deep meaning and a key to understandingsymbolism of the card.

"Lust", 11 lasso - patronizes Leo. It symbolizes conviction, ardor, creative energy, strong, almost fanatical passion for something.

"The Hanged Man", 12 lasso - corresponds with Neptune and is under the auspices of the water element. Denotes loss, sacrifice, punishment, suffering.

"Death", 13 lasso - patronizes Scorpio. It symbolizes transformation, change, significant rethinking, destruction, crisis, collapse of ideas or business. In extremely rare cases, it can mean physical death.

"Art", 14 lasso - associated with the constellation Sagittarius. Another card that is difficult to interpret, as it is not directly related to art as an aspect of life. The card means, rather, a symbiosis of various forces, their interaction, a sequence of actions.

"Devil", 15 lasso - patronizes Capricorn. Directly related to the concept of subordination. In addition, it denotes obstacles, constraint, slavery, obsession, preoccupation with the material side of life.

Arcana 16 to 21

The description of the Major Arcana proposed by Crowley (Tarot) is coming to an end.

"Tower", 16 lasso - correlates with Mars. Symbolizes danger, blow of fate, change.

"Star", 17 lasso - is under the auspices of Aquarius. Denotes opportunity, hope, faith, unexpected help.

"Moon", 18 lasso - the zodiac sign of Pisces. Denotes confusion, deceit, mistakes, witchcraft, the beginning of change.

"Sun", 19 lasso - patronizes the Sun. Symbolizes triumph, victory, power, glory, satisfaction, realization of the plan, truth, selfishness.

"Aeon", 20 lasso - associated with Pluto and the fire element. The map was created by Crowley. Denotes transition, beginning, summing up, threshold between old and new.

"Universe", 21 lasso - patronizes Saturn. Interpreted as tog, synthesis, integrity, completeness, perfection.

Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana of Crowley's Tarot consists of 56 cards. They have hardly been changed. The only thing that distinguishes them from a traditional deck is the design, which, although devoid of a plot, gives the symbols more imagery. The main change of Crowley is the change of the suit of pentacles to the suit of discs. At the same time, the symbolic meaning of the cards has not changed.